They’re beating the tape with the ugly stick as emerging markets continue to get clobbered. Bonds and MBS are rallying, with the 10 year trading at 2.65%.

We had some mixed earnings reports, with good news out of Google, a miss out of Mastercard, and a warning from Wal Mart.

Personal income came in flat in December (versus a .2% forecast), while personal spending rose .4%. The savings rate dipped to 3.9%. As I have said before – this is how recessions end. Spending increases and then wages increase. The PCE deflator came in in at 1.1%, showing inflation remains a non-problem.

Squabbling among Senate Democrats probably means that nothing will get done about the GSEs this year. Left wing Democrats like Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown will refuse to back any plan to re-organize the GSEs unless it guarantees affordable loans for most buyers. This means they want whatever entity that replaces Fannie and Fred to be more than simply a re-insurer of privately insured mortgages – they want to continue the social engineering role of the GSEs. Not all Democrats are onboard with this idea, let alone Republicans who rightly view government activism as a contributor to the housing bubble. The left would be more than happy to continue the status quo, with Mel Watt (a CRA guy) running the show.

Like this:

Playing Monopoly reveals the truth! Being wealthy makes you self-entitled, rude, and uncharitable!

Poor people are just nicer. But then, maybe that’s why their poor.

I feel skeptical. Not necessarily that all the data is wrong or cooked or perhaps not revelatory, and the tendency of human beings to attribute clearly “rigged” advantages in a situation to their own virtue or hard work is an objective truth (most of us, I suspect, have seen it all our lives).

But I just get the sense that the guy doing the presentation already has settled on his desired conclusions, and perhaps things are more complicated than the talk displays. For example, could it be that people who obtain wealth without work are ruder and less charitable, but those that work hard and are well-rewarded for their hard work are nicer and more charitable than your average non-wealthy person.

People in more expensive cars are more prone to break traffic laws or threaten pedestrians? I have a hard time believing that’s much more than coincidence.

Speaking of mean wealthy people . . . are gay people mean? They must be, if gay people are all rich!

Markets are higher this morning after 4Q GDP came in at +3.2%, as forecast by the Street. Facebook is up big on good earnings. Bonds and MBS are still digesting the FOMC meeting and are lower

The advance estimate of fourth quarter GDP came in at +3.2%. Consumption rose 3.3%, which was below the 3.7% estimate. The Commerce Department estimates that the shutdown took .3% off of the number. Finally, the inventory build that drove the large (4.1%) third quarter number wasn’t reversed in this reading.

The FOMC decided to reduce asset purchases by another $10 billion per month yesterday, which markets took in stride. The decision was unanimous, the first one the Bernank has had since 2011. Janet Yellen now takes the reins with more hawkish Committee. The Fed’s balance sheet will continue to grow, just slower than it did last month. The Fed’s balance sheet just passed 4 trillion (it was under 1 pre-crisis)

Pulte reported fourth quarter earnings, which beat expectations. Revenues were in line, but EPS beat by 12 cents. Gross margins expanded as the company raised prices – average selling prices jumped 13% to $325,000, while unit volume dropped by 4%. Orders are down 18%. The stock is up a buck (around 5%) pre-open.

December Pending Home Sales dropped dramatically (down 6.1% year-over-year and 8.7% month-over-month). The Street was forecasting a drop of .3%, so this was a big miss. November was revised down as well. This would comport with the big drop in mortgage applications we have seen.

Markets are getting slammed this morning on weakness in Europe and emerging markets currencies. Bonds are rallying on the risk-off trade. We should hear from the Fed at 2:00.

The Street is predicting that the Fed will decrease asset purchases by 10 billion a month, equally split between MBS and Treasuries. I would be surprised if they mention the turmoil in emerging markets, and it probably won’t affect their thinking regarding QE unless credit begins to tighten. I don’t think anyone expected the Fed to stick the landing with regard to extricating themselves from the asset markets, so sell-offs like these should be expected.

The WSJ has a good write-up on what to look for in the statement today. It also looks at the new voting members that will accompany Janet Yellen. If anything the Federal Reserve Board will become slightly more hawkish, especially with the addition of Philly Fed President (and my ex faculty adviser) Charles Plosser and Dallas Fed Head Richard Fisher.

I don’t see emerging markets affecting the U.S economy all that much. That said, Canada’s real estate bubble is bigger than ours and is ripe to burst. Most mortgages in Canada are guaranteed by the government or by the Ontario Teachers Fund, so it won’t have the soft of fallout that 2008 had, but there could be still be some issues that could roil credit markets. Luckily for the Canadians, their government doesn’t view housing as an vehicle for social engineering.

Mortgage Applications fell .2% last week, which was a holiday-shortened week. A short week + a 6 basis point drop in rates = a wash. Purchases increased while refis fell.

There were 41,000 completed foreclosures in December, according to CoreLogic. This is a decrease of 4% month-over-month and 14% year-over-year. Approximately 847,000 homes were in some stage of foreclosure as of the end of the year, versus 1.2 million a year ago. The foreclosure inventory remains the highest in the judicial states.

Stocks are higher this morning in spite of some weak economic data and disappointing sales out of Apple. Ford reported good numbers. Bonds and MBS are flat. Later on today we will get consumer confidence and Richmond Fed.

The FOMC starts its two day meeting today, which will be swan song for the Bernank.

Durable Goods orders came in at -4.3% vs. the Street expectation at +1.8%. This continues the trend we have seen of data suggesting a weak December. It is possibly weather-related, or tax related. Capital Goods orders were weaker than expected as well.

Continuing that trend, new home sales were weaker in December as well. New home sales fell to an annualized 414,000 pace in December from a downward-revised 445,000 pace in November.

Case-Shiller rose 13.71% year-over-year although it reported its first month-over-month decline in prices. Most experts think the torrid pace of the last couple of years will not be repeated in 2014 as increasing prices and increasing rates take their toll. Prices are back to mid 2004 levels.

Homebuilder D.R. Horton reported first quarter earnings that topped estimates. Orders increased 4% in Q1. Gross margins continue to expand as average sales prices jump 10%. It has been a tale of two markets as there is strong demand from the move-up buyer and the first time homebuyer struggles to get a foot on the first rung of the ladder. The stock is up a few percent pre-open. We will get a better read on the first time homebuyer later this week when PulteGroup reports.

Stocks are up following last week’s late selloff. Emerging Markets have been getting beaten due to a potential default of a major Chinese Bank’s bond issue. That accounts for some of the reason for the risk-off trade (stocks fall, bonds rise). Bonds and MBS are down.

This week promises to be eventful with the FOMC meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday as well as 4Q GDP on Friday. We will also get Pending Home Sales and Case-Shiller as well. The markets are handicapping another $10 billion / month reduction in asset purchases out of the Fed. Finally, we will hear from a couple of homebuilders – D.R. Horton and PulteGroup, which should give us hopefully a peek into how the spring selling season is shaping up, which unofficially kicks off next week.

What has been going on in emerging markets? Well, first there is a high yield bond issue from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. This was intended to raise money for a coal miner that collapsed in 2012 and absconded with the money. ICBC will make good on investor’s money. Second, we have had a couple currencies hit the wall – specifically the Argentina Peso and the Turkish Lira. These may not have the makings of a crisis, but you never know. IMO, this will not affect the Fed’s thinking regarding tapering unless they see credit begin to become constrained in the U.S. However it is causing a small (and probably short-lived) rally in the bond market. LO’s, any buyers on the fence that were balking at these high rates? Tell them the market just let them back in. Take advantage of it.

Speaking of talking to your potential buyers, here is a good chart to show them – a comparison of renting vs. buying. I charted the median monthly rent versus the expected monthly mortgage payment for the median house (assuming 20% down and the 30 year conforming rate that existed at the time). In spite of the increase in house prices and interest rates, the rent vs. buy decision is still heavily skewed towards buying. This should be shown to every first-time homebuyer. Check it out:

So far, the government has not changed the tax treatment for short sales and debt forgiveness. On January 1, the temporary tax reprieve for short sales and principal mods lapsed and now these events are treated as ordinary income. There doesn’t seem to be much momentum to change it. Although with the FHFA home price index within 10% of its peak, it makes you wonder how many people are left who bought at the tippy top of the market.

Markets are lower again after yesterday’s bloodbath. Emerging markets have been getting smoked lately, which is probably QE – driven to some extent. Bonds are beneficiaries of the risk-off trade, with the 10 year trading below 2.75%.

The government’s guns are not only trained on mortgage bankers, they are also on payday lenders who are running afoul of usury laws. The Feds seem to forget that if a lender is going to make a loan that only lasts a week or so, they have to charge a high enough interest rate to make it worthwhile. Which means an eye-popping rate if you annualize it. They also hate check cashing places too. Not sure what low-income people are going to do for cash once these guys are chased out of business, but I am sure fair lending will have something to do with the “solution.”

Another chart to show how affordable buying has become. I took the median house price since the mid 70s, and calculated the expected mortgage payment using the conforming rate at the time (with 20% down) and divided that by median income. We have just bounced off all-time lows, so even though housing is more expensive than it was a year ago, it is still very cheap historically.